Chile: major blow to president as far right triumphs in key constitution vote

‘Earthquake in Chilean politics’ as ultra-conservative Republican party wins 22 of 50 seats on body to rewrite Pinochet-era document

Chile’s far right has won an emphatic victory in a vote to select the committee that will rewrite its dictatorship-era constitution, after José Antonio Kast’s Republican party secured 22 of its 50 seats in a major blow to the progressive president Gabriel Boric.

Boric beat Kast, an ultra-conservative lawyer often compared to Brazil’s former leader Jair Bolsonaro, in the 2021 presidential election.